S2 Pro: Japanese pricing looks more competitive!(UPDATED)By
Mike Tomkins(Thursday, May 30, 2002 - 01:15 EDT)Yamada Kumio predicts Fuji's latest digital SLR will ship at a cost equivalent to US$2500...Last March, Fuji Photo Film U.S.A. revealed planned list pricing for its upcoming FinePix S2 Pro single-lens reflex digital camera, and the figure of $3495 surprised many readers as compared to Canon's EOS D60 ($2699 list) and Nikon D100 (list pricing not announced, but widely rumored to be close to that of the D60). Now, Yamada Kumio at the digitalcamera.jp website has posted news of the formal announcement of the FinePix S2 Pro for the Japanese market.

Interestingly, whilst Yamada's source for this information isn't noted he predicts a Japanese price of ¥310,000 - which (ignoring tax, duties, currency fluctuations and the suchlike) converts to approximately US$2,496 / &euro2,666 / £1,707. If true, this is much more competitive, although still significantly more than the Canon EOS D60, which has a 'Minimum Advertised Price' of $2199 for the full kit, or $1999 for the body-only package. (Again, rumors we've heard suggest that Nikon's pricing for the D100 will be comparable).

It isn't clear if this Japanese price is a list price or an expected street price, and we'd caution readers that we've seen no independant verification of this figure - nor any official announcement from Fuji Japan. Yamada's item also predicts that the RAW conversion software will not be included with the camera in Japan, and will sell for ¥18,500 (US$149 / €159 / £102). Canon includes its RAW conversion software with the EOS D60 bundles, but Nikon is expected to sell its 'Capture 3' package separately from the D100 digital camera.UPDATED 2002-05-30 15:48ET: IR reader Allan Lochert notes that the Fuji Japan site now lists the the ¥310,000 price as an official MSRP. If (as is common) street pricing ends up being lower, the FinePix S2 Pro looks like it could well be competitive with pricing for Canon and Nikon's cameras in Japan...Source:
digitalcamera.jp